Tuesday, 22 March 2016

Sweden's migrant crisis

Three
weeks after
being attacked while
filming in a migrant-heavy district of Sweden’s capital, “60
Minutes Australia” has finally aired the footage of the attack.

The
crew, upon arriving to the Rinkeby district of Stockholm on March 1,
was immediately confronted and attacked by migrants. The area is also
known as “Little Mogadishu,” a reference to the high number
Somali migrants who live in the area.

According
to footage, the crew’s tumultuous day began as a car filled with
migrants approached the crew. When the discussion between the crew
and the migrants began to get tense, one of the crew’s cameramen
was deliberately run over as the car sped off.

In
response, lead correspondent Liz Hayes phoned the local police, but
even they were reluctant to provide much assistance or guard them for
the rest of their time in the area.

“I
think it would be better if you go in without us,” a cameraman
catches a police officer telling Hayes.

Once
the crew entered a local market, they were met with friendly people
who agreed to go on camera. But once the police left the location,
the migrants became increasingly hostile and unfriendly. That’s
when a gang of masked men began to attack the group.

The
attack began as one of the masked men launched a stone at the
cameraman. That same man then attempted to kick and punch the crew’s
boom operator. Then a second man is seen running in, attempting to
steal a camera from a still photographer. The confrontation only ends
when another migrant intervened by running his mobility scooter into
the aggressor.

Following
last year’s mass exodus of migrants from the Middle East to Europe,
many countries were hard hit with migrant violence, but Sweden has
been especially hard hit after the country accepted more
than 100,000 migrants in
2015. According to a news report from February, the country is
quickly learning that the migrants are not assimilating well,
citing more
than 20 “no-go” areas in
Stockholm alone.